Holders for beverage containers

ABSTRACT

A holder for a disposable beverage container comprises an arcuate strip of material ( 1 ) which is cut at each end to provide a handle opening ( 3 ) within which are provided fixing means ( 5, 6 ) whereby opposite ends of the strip ( 1 ) may be fixed together with handle portions ( 8 ) substantially in facing register, the handle opening cut-outs ( 3 ) being securable together in overlapping relation so as to be flattenable against a side of a container held by the handle. The arcuate strip of material ( 1 ) is suitably cut at each end to provide respectively upwardly ( 5 ) and downwardly ( 6 ) extending lobes within the handle openings ( 3 ), which lobes ( 5, 6 ) are slidable into interlocking relationship when the two ends of the strip ( 1 ) are brought together face to face, thereby to form the handle ( 8 ).

This invention relates to holders for beverage containers and in particular to such holders as may form cup handles for manipulating disposable beverage containers, especially beverage containers of the type constituted as conical or frusto-conical containers.

Such containers are widely used in the catering industry, for example at exhibitions and in offices. The containers are typically formed from paper (treated for water-tightness), from a plastics material which may or may not be foamed. Such containers are typically made in a range of standard sizes, for example from a nominal capacity of about 0.15 L to about 0.6 L

Problems arise in the use of thin walled containers (paper or unfoamed plastics), especially when the beverage contained is hot. When freshly poured, the beverage may be so hot that the container itself is uncomfortable or even painful to hold. For this reason, the practice has arisen of providing cup holders. These have the additional advantage of militating against cracking or other premature damage to the container, whether thin- or thick-walled, due to an over-strong grip by the user.

Known cup holders are typically formed of a plastics material and comprise a cage formed by upper and lower rings joined by vertical struts in which the cup sits, and a handle attached to the cage. Such cup holders are indeed useful and effective from the point of view of the consumer of the beverage, but they are disadvantageous from the point of view of the supplier since they cannot be packed flat and they are rather bulky to store and ship in large quantities.

Following the making of this invention certain searches have been made with a view to ascertaining the state of the art in this field and U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,583 has been brought to light. This specification discloses a handle accessory for beverage cups which is fabricated from a thin, elongated strip of plastic, heavy paper, or similar flexible material. An oval-shaped enlargement of at least one end of the strip provides a hand grip. The opposite end of the strip is wrapped around a cup and joined to the handle end having the hand grip. In the preferred embodiment, an oval-shaped tab cut through one end of the strip is folded through and oval-shaped hole in the opposite end of the strip, and then inserted upward into a horizontally disposed slit in the opposite end to lock the two ends together.

I believe that no commercial use of a cup handle in accordance with that US patent has taken place, at least in the United Kingdom or in Europe, and this may be because each of the embodiments shown would appear to suffer from the disadvantage of being uncomfortable to use. Many of the embodiments are also of rather complicated construction and difficult to assemble.

It is an object of this invention to provide a holder for a disposable beverage container which will pack flat, which is easy to assemble, and which in the most preferred embodiments will offer greater user comfort than prior art designs.

The present invention provides a holder for a beverage container which comprises an arcuate strip of material which is cut at each end to provide a handle opening within which are provided fixing means whereby opposite ends of the strip may be fixed together with handle portions substantially in facing register, the handle opening cut-outs being securable together in overlapping relation so as to be flattenable against a side of a container held by the handle.

A cup handle according to the present invention has the advantage of providing a double material thickness between the fingers of a user and the beverage container which is flattenable against such a container and thus affords a comfortable grip for the user and a degree of insulation from a hot beverage within the container.

Preferably the arcuate strip is cut at each end to provide respectively upwardly and downwardly extending lobes within the handle openings which are slidable into interlocking relationship when the two ends of the strip are brought together face-to-face thereby, to form the handle.

Such a holder will pack flat as a strip, and by suitable choice of material, it can also be packed flat when made up as a cup holder.

Advantageously, the strip has a central deadfold line. This may for example be provided by a crease or a line of perforations, and define a line at which the strip may be folded so that it can be packed flat when made up.

Preferably, the lobes are so arranged that when the ends of the strip lie in face-to-face relation, the lobes are also closed together in face-to-face relation, whereas when a container is inserted into the holder the lobes are opened apart. The lobes and other parts of the strip will thus form a double-thickness heat shield between the cup and a user's fingers.

In some preferred embodiments of the invention, additional fixing means are provided at each end of the strip. This can have the advantage of providing a more secure and/or more stable securement of the ends of the strip to form the handle.

In some preferred embodiments of the invention, the fixing means comprises a patch of adhesive material. In other preferred embodiments of this aspect of the invention, the fixing means comprises interlocking tabs.

Such embodiments are primarily designed for use with beverage containers having a size of from 0.15 L to 0.33 L.

For use with larger beverage containers, for example containers with a capacity of 0.5 litre or 1 pint (0.57 L), it is desirable to provide additional strength and stiffening in the handle.

It is accordingly preferred that an end flap attached to or integral with the handle portion is provided at at least one end of the arcuate strip which flap is foldable double against the handle portion and includes an aperture through which the fixing means may operatively extend. A second end flap may conveniently be provided attached to or integral with the handle at the opposite end of the arcuate strip.

By adoption of this modification of the invention the handle as such may be constituted by three or four plies of the material of which the arcuate strip is made. This provides additional strength and bracing of the handle when the holder is made up.

Interlocking lobes of secondary fixing means may provide an additional brace across the top of the handle sections.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view of an arcuate strip of material for forming a holder for a beverage container according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an underplan view of the strip of FIG. 1 made up to form a holder;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are respectively side and handle end views of the holder;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are respectively views of arcuate strips of material for forming two further embodiments of holder for a beverage container according to the invention;

FIG. 7 is a view of an arcuate strip of material forming yet a further embodiment of beverage container holder;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the made-up holder of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a modification of the embodiment of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a further modification of the embodiment of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 11 shows two views of a collapsible beverage container which my be used with the holder of the invention.

In FIGS. 1, 2, 7, 9 and 10 a solid line indicates a cut, a widely dotted line indicates a crease and a finely dotted line denotes a tearable perforation.

In the drawings, a cup holder is formed from an arcuate strip 1 of material. The nature of this material is not critical, though clearly it must be sufficiently flexible and have sufficient structural strength for the purpose in view. A fairly heavy grade of paper, for example resin or wax impregnated may be used, as may a wide range of plastics materials.

The strip 1 is cut at 2 at each end to provide a handle opening 3 and is also cut 4 at each end to provide respectively upwardly 5 and downwardly 6 extending lobes within the handle openings 3. The lobes 5, 6 are slidable into interlocking relationship as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 when the two ends of the strip 1 are brought together face-to-face thereby to form a cup handle. Making up of the holder is thus extremely simple, and could be performed by machine.

The strip 1 has a central deadfold line 7. This may for example be provided by a crease or a line of perforations or a thinner region of the strip, and defines a line at which the strip may be folded so that it can be packed flat when made up as a cup holder.

The lobes 5, 6 are so arranged that when the ends of the strip lie in face-to-face relation, the lobes are also closed together in face-to-face relation, whereas when the holder is opened out for receipt of a container as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the lobes are opened away from each other. The lobes 5, 6 and adjacent parts of the strip will thus form a double-thickness heat shield between the cup and a user's fingers.

As is perhaps most clearly shown in FIG. 2, the handle portions 8 of the strip tend to be spaced apart except at a meeting edge. Thus the edges 9 of the handle openings 3 are spaced apart and the fingers of the user will accordingly bear against two spaced apart edges of the strip material. This is in contrast to many prior art designs, where the fingers bear against a single strip edge or against two strip edges which are close together. Spacing the strip edges has the effect of spreading stresses, thus making for a stronger holder and adding to the comfort of the user.

A strip 1 for forming a cup handle may be printed on one side, the reverse being left blank. When the cup holder is made up as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, it will be noted that the reverse side of the strip substantially faces inwards and is masked. This provides a more pleasing appearance to the article. The printing may involve the use of promotional or advertising material or any other suitable material.

Suitable materials for forming the strip include cardboard, PVC, polyurethane, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate.

In FIG. 5 various parts of the arcuate strip 1 of material are allotted the same reference numerals as are allotted to like parts in FIG. 1, and these need not be further described. It will be seen that the handle portions 8 are attached to the body of the arcuate strip at fold lines 10 and 11.

Also, at each end of the strip above the handle portions are provided secondary fixing means constituted by mutually interengageable lobes 12 and 13. It will be seen that each of these lobes 12, 13 points in substantially the same direction as the lobes 5, 6 of the primary fixing means so that the respective pairs of lobes can be interengaged at the same time.

The lobes 12 and 13 join the handle portions 8 respectively at fold lines 14 and 15.

In FIG. 6, handle portions 8 formed at the ends of the strip 1 by cut lines 2 join the strip at fold lines 10 and 11. Within the handle opening formed by the cut line 2 a portion of the strip 1 has a patch of adhesive 16 to serve as primary fixing means. In use it is intended that the handles 8 should be brought together in facing relationship and tab 17 which is not provided with adhesive should be pressed against a container whereafter the adhesive patch 16 is pressed against that tab 17 in approximately the position indicated by dotted lines 16 a so that the tab bearing the adhesive patch 16 overlaps the tab 17.

Secondary fixing means comprises an adhesive patch 18 carried by a tab 19 at the upper end of a handle portion 8, the tab 19 having fold lines 20, 21 and 22. Appropriate folding of the tab 19 will allow the adhesive patch 18 to be pressed against the reverse face of the opposite handle 8 at the position 18 a.

In FIG. 7 various parts of the arcuate strip 1 of material are again allotted the same reference numerals as are allotted to like parts in FIG. 1, and these need not be further described. It will be seen that end flaps 16, 17 are attached to the handle portions 8 formed at the ends of the body of the arcuate strip at fold lines 18 and 19.

Each such end flap 16, 17 may be folded double against the handle portion 8 to which it is attached, and includes an aperture 20, 21 through which the fixing means 5, 6 may operatively extend to give what may be described as a four-ply handle.

Also, at each end of the strip above the handle portions 8, secondary fixing means are provided constituted by mutually interengageable lobes 12 and 13. It will be seen that each of these lobes 12, 13 points in substantially the same direction as the lobes 5, 6 of the primary fixing means so that the respective pairs of lobes can be interengaged at the same time.

The lobes 12 and 13 join the handle portions 8 respectively at fold lines 14 and 15. When in the assembled condition shown in FIG. 8, with the lobes 12, 13 of the secondary fixing means interengaged, these lobes together form a thumb rest and provide additional bracing to the handle assembly.

In FIG. 9, the strip 1 is modified by the removal of one end flap (17). This embodiment will give a three-ply handle.

In FIG. 10, the handle of the embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 8 is provided with a number of lines of perforation designated 24. The lines of perforation are designed as guides for tearing of the strip material 1 after it has served duty as a holder for a beverage container in order to form a novelty mask which could be held to the ears of a child by (residual) parts of the handle portions 8. Such an embodiment may be printed with emblems or insignia symbolic of a character represented by the mask. Such character could be a generalised character such as a pirate, or a particular individual character. Such a holder which is convertible into a mask is envisaged as having value as promotional material for a retail establishment or chain for example a restaurant chain, which has particular appeal to children. Such a holder will also have appeal to those involved in promotional advertising allied with character merchandising.

The strip material may be printed on one or both sides with any desired appropriate design or wording.

FIGS. 11 a and 11 b show a collapsible cup 25 which may be supported by a holder as described with reference to any of the preceding drawings. In its collapsed form, the cup 25 has a chisel-edged base 26, and side faces 27 joined by sides creases 28 and having beaded upper edges 29. Such a cup can be packed flat, pre-assembled within a made-up holder, prior to use. For use, the cup may be opened and rotated through 90° to promote stability and a circular vessel shape in an open cup/holder assembly. Such a cup would desirably be produced in lightweight material with enough flexibility and resilience that the beading 29 would not prevent the cup from packing acceptably flat for advantages in transport and storage. Interlocking tabs for locating the cup in the holder may be provided if required. 

1. A holder for a beverage container which holder comprises an arcuate strip of material (1) which is cut at each end to provide a handle opening (3) within which are provided fixing means (5,6) whereby opposite ends of the strip (1) may be fixed together with handle portions (8) substantially in facing register, the handle opening cut-outs (3) being securable together in overlapping relation so as to be flattenable against a side of a container held in the holder.
 2. A beverage container holder according to claim 1, wherein said arcuate strip (1) is cut at each end to provide respectively upwardly (5) and downwardly (6) extending lobes within the handle openings (3), said lobes (5,6) being slidable into interlocking relationship when the two ends of the strip (1) are brought together face to face, thereby to form the handle (8).
 3. A beverage container holder according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an end flap (16,17) is attached to or integral with the handle portion (8) at at least one end of the arcuate strip (1) which end flap (16,17) is foldable double against the handle portion (8) and includes an aperture through which the fixing means (5,6) may operatively extend.
 4. A beverage container holder according to any preceding claim and further comprising secondary fixing means comprising interengageable lobes (12,13) attached to upper edges of the handle portions (8).
 5. A beverage container holder according to any preceding claim, wherein the strip material (1) is provided with lines of weakness (24) whereby it may be torn to provide a mask.
 6. A beverage container holder according to any preceding claim, which carries printed material on at least one side thereof. 